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Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 4
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Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume 4 (1993).iso
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angle102.exe
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ANGLES.DOC
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1990-09-29
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809 lines
ANGLES v1.02
Copyright (c) 1990
by: Steve Jonas
ANGLES is a program that can be an invaluable aid to those
who occasionally (or constantly) need to calculate trian-
gles. After a solution to the triangle is displayed you
will have the option to change the known/unknown informa-
tion, save the solution to disk, or print the solution.
Also supplied are two ways to find unknown points on an X-Y
grid. Angles should prove to be quite handy to machinists,
engineers, draftsman, or just about anyone that needs to
calculate a triangle. ANGLES is well behaved in that it
will always use the default directory for any file
reading/writing. That way you won't have the hassle later
trying to find what directory it wrote any of it's files in.
They will always reside in the directory ANGLES was initiat-
ed in.
SHAREWARE
ANGLES is marketed under the Shareware concept which means
you have permission to use it on a trial basis for a set
period; 1 month in this case. If, after one month, you
decide to use ANGLES you are expected to register your copy.
A registration form is provided for you in the program it
self. To print the registration form go to the ANGLES main
menu, choose Options, Register. If you decide to register
ANGLES there are basically two "levels" of registration you
may choose from:
1) You may register only, which means that the copy
you now have is the copy you get. If you
don't mind waiting through the opening screen delay
and would like to save a few bucks this is the
method for you.
2) You may register and receive a registration copy
of ANGLES. The advantage here is that the opening
screen delay is disabled and a command line option
is available to entirely skip the opening screen if
you wish. The closing advertisement is also re-
moved. This copy will be shipped to you on 5-1/4
360k floppy disk, or for a few more dollars you can
order it on a 3-1/2 720k disk.
DISTRIBUTION
Shareware is intended to be shared and ANGLES is no excep-
tion. You are encouraged to give away copies of ANGLES, but
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please do NOT break up the full set of files. The files are
listed below:
ANGLES.EXE . . . The program itself.
ANGLES.HLP . . . Help file for ANGLES on-line context
sensitive help system.
ANGLES.DOC . . . This file.
SOLVED.ANG . . . A sample of a saved ANGLES solution.
The rules governing distribution of ANGLES are as follows:
1) You are not to break up the set of ANGLES
files as listed above.
2) You may not charge over $10.00 per copy of
ANGLES. This is only intended to help compen-
sate for the cost of the disk and time invest-
ment in the copy procedure, and mailing fees.
This charge is NOT meant in any way to go
toward the registration fees for ANGLES.
3) ANGLES shall NOT be distributed with any
other package without the expressed written
permission of the author.
STARTING ANGLES
ANGLES has some command line switches that you should know
about as explained below:
SYNTAX: ANGLES [[switch]..]
EXPLANATION OF SWITCHES:
/? Displays a listing of available command line
switches.
example: ANGLES /?
displays the switches help screen
/s THIS SWITCH IS AVAILABLE ONLY FOR REGISTERED
USERS! The /s switch will cause ANGLES to skip
the opening screen entirely. The delay in the
opening screen is disabled in the registered
version, but I thought some of you registered
users would like to totally bypass it.
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/m Force monochrome text colors. Some may need
to use this switch if they have a laptop that
is giving a poor quality picture. You may
prefer it to the default colors.
/b BIOS screen writing mode. By default ANGLES
will write to the screen by directly accessing
the screen memory. This provides much quicker
screen output. The tradeoff, however, is if
you do not own a truly "compatible" clone you
may experience some problems with ANGLES
video output. To fix this problem the
/b switch is provided. It tells ANGLES to
write to the screen through the system BIOS
(Basic Input/Output System). ANGLES screen
output will be pretty slow if you use this
switch, It's really intended as a last resort.
/c CGA snow suppression switch. If you have
a CGA monitor and are experiencing "snow" on
the screen use this switch to help suppress
the problem. Most systems will not need this.
Examples of startup options:
ANGLES /?
Lists an abbreviated listing of command line switches.
ANGLES /s
Starts ANGLES and skips the intro screen.
(Registered users only)
ANGLES /c /b
Start ANGLES, suppress CGA "snow" and use BIOS screen writ-
ing mode.
CONTEXT SENSITIVE HELP
ANGLES sports a handy online help system. If you don't like
to read long manuals, or print them out (I sure don't!) you
will probably be able get all your questions answered in the
program itself by making liberal use of it's help system.
In order for the ANGLES help system to work you will need to
make sure the ANGLES.HLP file is in the SAME directory that
ANGLES.EXE resides in.
The ANGLES help system is always available by tapping your
F1 function key. To get information about a certain topic
in a menu for instance just move the highlight bar to the
selection you would like help on and tap F1. A help screen
will pop up with pertinent information about the subject
which may or may not have more than one page. If there is
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another page to look at the lower right help window border
will say "PgDn", or "PgUp". You will also frequently en-
counter text that is highlighted in the with or without a
reverse color bar. These are cross references that you may
want to access to learn more about a related subject. The
arrow keys will move among the different selections and
<enter> will go to that related topic. The ANGLES.HLP file
MUST be in the ANGLES directory in order for the help system
to work!
MOUSE SUPPORT
ANGLES supports a Microsoft compatible mouse if one is in
stalled on your system. The mouse can be used to move
around the menu and pick various things. If you have a two
button mouse the left mouse button will act much the same as
if you had pressed the <enter> key on your keyboard. The
right button will act as if you had pressed the <escape> key
on your keyboard. If you own a three button mouse the
center button will also act as an <escape> keypress. To
select a menu Item simply move your mouse cursor to a menu
option and tap the left button. This will either pull down
a sub-menu or select a function depending on what you are
doing. The mouse will be disabled when you are passed to a
data entry screen but will be operational when you return
from it.
MAIN MENU
After the opening copyright screen is done (whew!) and you
press a key you are at the main menu. Five main categories
are listed for you to choose from along with the online help
key (F1):
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Triangles Polar File Options Quit F1=help |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
TRIANGLES
Select Triangles on the main menu by moving the highlight
bar to it and tap <enter>. If you have a mouse you can
place the mouse cursor on it and click the left button. You
will be taken to a sub-menu that asks you to tell ANGLES
what type of triangle you want to calculate.
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+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Triangles Polar File Options Quit F1=help |
++-------------------+--------------------------------------+
| Right Triangles |
| Oblique Triangles |
+-------------------+
The two main types of triangles are Right triangles, and
Oblique triangles. Most of you will probably remember from
geometry class that a right triangle is any triangle that
contains one 90 degree angle in it. It stands to reason, of
course, that Oblique triangles do NOT have a right (90 de
gree) angle in them. For now let's select Right Triangles
the same way as above.
SELECTING A VIEW
ANGLES should now be showing you a representation of a
triangle in the upper-left portion of your screen. This is
one of eight separate views to help you orient the problem
you have to solve with the known/unknown sides and angles.
If you like the orientation presently displayed that's
great! you can skip this section and press <enter>. If the
view shown doesn't happen to fit with the problem you have
to solve then you can scroll through the views three differ-
ent ways.
1) Simply move the mouse around. The views should move
accordingly. Any movement will work, sideways, up/down.
When you find the desired view tap the left mouse button.
2) Use the arrow keys, or PgUp/PgDn keys to move up, or
down through the views. When you find the desired view tap
the <enter> key.
3) You may also select a view by number. The valid range
is 1 through 8. Your separate number keypad will not work,
the number keys above your alphabet keys are the ones to
use. This might be handy for those who frequently have to
figure similar triangles and know which view they want.
When you find the desired view tap the <enter> key.
DATA ENTRY
Now you are ready to enter the information that is known
about the triangle. Something you should know about ANGLES
is it's powerful ability to handle mathematical expressions.
For instance suppose you know that one side of a triangle is
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5.125 and you need to subtract 2.2358. Here is what you can
type in the data entry field:
5.125-2.2358 <enter>
Spaces are also allowed, so you could accomplish the same
result by typing:
5.125 - 2.2358 <enter>
The "<enter>" is not to be typed, it represents pressing the
ENTER key on your keyboard. As soon as you press the
<enter> key ANGLES will calculate the answer and display it
in the field. This should save some of you from having to
use a $3.50 calculator with your $2000.00 computer! The
mathematical operators that ANGLES recognizes are:
"+" the plus sign
"-" the minus sign
"/" the division operator.
Note: Do NOT confuse this with the
"\" backslash!
"*" the multiplication operator
"(" opening parenthesis
")" closing parenthesis
Note: There MUST be a closing
parenthesis for every opening
parenthesis!
NOTE: Negative numbers are NOT allowed in triangle data
entry. For instance "-2.5625", or "2 - 5.25" are not ac-
ceptable.
Here are some other examples:
(2.4375+1.875)/2 <enter>
6 * 13.12 <enter>
2+4*3 <enter>
(2+4) * 3 <enter>
0 <enter> (Will display a "?" because
it is assumed to be un-
known)
If you have entered some character that ANGLES cannot under-
stand, for example:
2.125 * W <enter>
ANGLES will inform you of this by making a "blip" and dis-
playing a window that says:
+--------------------------------------+
| Expression Error! . . . tap any key! |
+--------------------------------------+
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After you press a key your cursor will be located under the
first unrecognized character. In the case of the above
example the cursor would be resting under the "W". Fix the
problem and press <return> again:
2.125 * 2 <enter>
(The "W" was accidentally pressed instead of the "2")
Now ANGLES should understands what you mean and you should be
able to proceed.
NOTE: If you want to clear all the input fields just type the
letter "C"!
POPUP ANGLE CONVERSION CALCULATORS
Angular data must be entered in a decimal degrees format.
Sometimes you may only know an angle in a degrees, minutes,
seconds format. To translate to decimal degrees a popup
calculator is provided by tapping the F5 function key. You
will be asked to type in the degrees, minutes, and seconds.
The converted angles will be displayed and you will be asked
if you want to import it. Importing simply means ANGLES
will close the calculator window and type the answer in at
the position the cursor was resting on BEFORE you invoked
the calculator. Radians can be converted in a similar
manner by tapping the F6 function key.
AUTO CALC
Autocalc is a word I use to describe another powerful fea-
ture of ANGLES. The purpose is simple (I hope the explana-
tion is also!). Autocalc has only two settings: ON, and
OFF. The current setting of the Autocalc switch is dis-
played on the triangles screen in the right center portion
of your monitor:
AUTOmatic CALCulation is: ON, or
AUTOmatic CALCulation is: OFF
Autocalc will be toggled ON every time you begin to input
information for a new triangle. The function of Autocalc is
that, when toggled ON, it constantly checks the data fields
to determine if enough information has been input for ANGLES
to solve your triangle. If it sees enough information it
will automatically solve your triangle for you. As soon as
your triangle has been solved Autocalc will be toggled OFF.
The reason Autocalc is available is that ANGLES allows you
to edit the sides and angles that you supplied initially so
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you can adjust things to your liking. If you were to add an
extra side, or move an angle from one field to another you
would be constantly given a solution. Autocalc allows you
to turn off the data checking until you are ready for it to
go ahead and solve a triangle. You may toggle the Autocalc
feature ON/OFF by simply tapping the letter "A" (upper, or
lower case). After you do this (toggled it back ON) you
must tap <enter> to allow ANGLES to solve your triangle
based on the new information you have supplied.
INPUT STATUS
The Input Status is shown in the lower section of your
triangle data entry screen. Input Status works hand-in-hand
with you keeping an eye on how much information you need, or
don't need. When you have entered enough info for your
triangle to be solved you will see the word "SUCCESS". If
Autocalc is toggled ON you might not see "SUCCESS" because
you will be immediately whisked off to your solution. If
you happen to be unsure of how much information is needed to
figure the triangle at hand, just keep an eye on Input
Status and it will tell you!
OK, MY TRIANGLE HAS BEEN SOLVED.
NOW WHAT?
Now that you have the solution shown on the screen you are
faced with a few choices:
[C]ontinue (edit / quit)
[S]ave to disk (take a snapshot)
[P]rintout
s[A]ve to disk & Printout
If the triangle solution is not quite what you were looking
for, maybe you want a little larger angle, or longer side on
it, you can select [C]ontinue. You will be returned back to
the data entry fields so you can change whatever you want.
Don't forget, however the Autocalc will be toggled OFF at
this point so if you want another solution to be displayed
you will need to toggle it back ON by tapping the letter
"A".
"[S]ave to disk" will basically save a "snapshot" of your
screen to disk. If you might need the solution later for
reference or even to print out you should use this selec-
tion. If you save to disk you will be prompted for a stand-
ard DOS file name. Do not include the extension as that
will be supplied automatically for you.
"[P]rintout" will print the solution to your standard print-
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er so you can have a hardcopy of your triangle.
"s[A]ve to disk & Printout" will, of course, both save your
solution to disk, then proceed to print it.
When you are finished calculating triangles simply tap the
ESCape key a few times to return to the main menu. The
Oblique triangles works nearly identical to right triangles
except, given the right circumstances, you may be faced with
the message:
+----------------------------------------+
| THERE ARE TWO POSSIBLE SOLUTION: |
| Please select one: |
| |
| [1] Angle x is greater than 90 degrees |
| [2] Angle x is less than 90 degrees |
+----------------------------------------+
The "x" will be substituted for the angle being referred to.
Select the one you think is most suitable. If you want to
see both solutions you may solve for greater than 90 degrees
[1]. [C]ontinue on, toggle Autocalc by tapping the letter
"A", and picking less than 90 degrees [2].
CARTESIAN COORDINATES
There may be times when you are working on a Cartesian coor
dinate grid. Cartesian coordinates are laid out in a grid
like this:
(+Y)
|
|
(-X) ------+------ (+X)
|
|
(-Y)
The Y axis is defined by the vertical line and the X axis is
defined by the horizontal line.
A point may be defined on this coordinate system by specify-
ing it's X&Y values (the X axis is always defined first,
then the Y axis). For instance (5,2) would locate a point 5
units to the right of the Y axis at X=5, and 2 units above
the X axis at Y=2. Negative values may also be specified
for example (-2.5,0) would locate a point 2-1/2 units to the
left of the Y axis at X=-2.5, and zero units from the X axis
(directly on the X axis line) at Y=0.
As stated above, angular directions in ANGLES coordinate
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system should always be called out in decimal values not
degrees, minutes, seconds, or radians. Angles that you
specify in this program based on the Cartesian coordinate
system. Will follow this convention:
(-270)
(+90)
|
(-180) | (360)
(+180) ------+------ (0)
|
|
(+270)
(-90)
As you can see the angle is always determined FROM the first
point (the point of origin), to the second point where ever
it may be. 0 degrees is the same as 360 degrees. Likewise
-90 degrees would be the same angle as 270 degrees etc..
Now that our little geometry lesson is finished..
POLAR
ANGLES supplies two methods of determining unknown point
coordinate information. Pick "Polar" on the main menu. a
sub-menu will pull down listing the two types:
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Triangles Polar File Options Quit F1=help |
+-----------+----------------------+------------------------+
| Point-Distance-Angle |
| Two Known Points |
+----------------------+
If you know one points position, the distance between that
point and a second point, and the angle to the second point
(from the first point) you should use Point-Distance-Angle
to find the X & Y coordinates of the second point.
Use Two known Points if you know the X & Y location of two
points and need to find out the distance between them, as
well as the angle from the first point to the second point.
Data entry in the two polar functions are the same as trian-
gle data entry except negative numbers are allowed. Do NOT
use a negative number in the Distance field. As soon as you
input the needed data the solutions will be displayed. The
popup angle conversion calculators are also available in the
polar functions. As usual F1 will popup a help screen any
time you need it.
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FILE
There are two file manipulation function that ANGLES pro-
vides, Load, and Delete.
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Triangles Polar File Options Quit F1=help |
+------------------+-----------+----------------------------+
| Load F3 |
| Delete F4 |
+-----------+
Both of these functions are accessible nearly anywhere in
the program by tapping the appropriate "hot key". F3 is the
hot key for Load. Load will recall any triangle solution
you may have previously saved. Tap F3 and you will be
looking at a directory of triangle solutions, all of which
may be called up (for viewing only) and printed if need be.
If there are no triangle solution files in the directory no
directory will be displayed. Simply highlight the file you
wish to view and tap <enter>. The solution will be shown on
screen and will have a time and date stamp on it for your
reference. At this point tapping F10 will print the solu-
tion to your printer.
No doubt you will eventually want to delete some of your
solution files. There is a hot key for that task also; F4.
Delete works basically the same as Load except you will be
asked to verify that you want to delete the file before it
is done.
FIX
ANGLES will normally (by default) display its solutions to
the sixth decimal point but you can have control over that
by changing the FIX number. If you need less accuracy, say
only 4 places after the decimal point you may set it here.
Put the highlight bar on the FIX option and tap return. The
cursor will now be blinking under the number 6. Type "4"
(if that's what you want) and press enter. The valid range
is 3..9. Now you are asked the question:
Save as default? Y/n
If you just tap enter or "Y" the setting you have input will
be the new default that ANGLES will always use to display
its answers every time you use it. If you type a "N" ANGLES
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will still display its answers in the new setting, but NEXT
time you run ANGLES the OLD setting will be used (in this
case, 6). In other words the new setting is only valid
until you terminate the program.
INFO
This is only for those who might care enough to read it.
And for posterity...
REGISTER
This being my bread and butter, not to mention my hobby, I
would like to encourage you to print out the registration
form and send it in if you intend to use ANGLES. Select
this option and you will be asked if you want to print the
registration form. Make sure your printer is online and tap
the "Y".
CONVERSIONS
Choose Conversions and a sub-menu will pull down containing
four different angle unit conversion calculators:
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Triangles Polar File Options Quit F1=help |
+----------------------+-------------+----------------------+
| Fix 6 |
| Info |
| Register +---------------------+
| Conversions | DMS->Decimal F5 |
+-------------+ Radians->Decimal F6 |
| Decimal->DMS |
| Decimal->Radians |
+---------------------+
The first two: DMS->Decimal and Radians->Decimal have al-
ready been discussed in the section above called "POPUP
ANGLE CONVERSION CALCULATORS". The remaining two are com-
panion calculators that convert back to the unit you may
need. DMS, of course, stands for Degrees, minutes, seconds.
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You can only access the last two by getting to them here on
the main menu. They do not have a hot key attached to them.
QUIT
I don't want to insult your intelligence by telling you that
you must highlight the "Yes" and press <enter> in order to
quit ANGLES, so I won't!
DISCLAIMER
Nobody takes any responsibility these days for anything. I
am NO exception! Though I have gone to great lengths to
work most of the bugs out of ANGLES, I will assume NO RE-
SPONSIBILITY for any damage, direct, or indirect, that may
be caused by the use of ANGLES! I can't imagine why you
would want to blame me anyway! (Don't shoot me, I'm only
the programmer). I am open to suggestions and would love to
hear from you. Please feel free to write me about any
modifications / additions like to see incorporated in
ANGLES.
Thanks for using ANGLES!
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